Look up! Jupiter is about to put on its best show of the year

The biggest planet of our solar system -Jupiter,
with its four moons is about to get fully illuminated by the sun, on the eve of
8th March. Jupiter will be at opposition on this day -opposite the
Sun, with the Earth in between. At 4 am US standard time or ahead from mid night in Australia, Earth will pass between the Sun and the Jupiter, Jupiter will be
shining more vividly than at any other time in the next 13 months. Jupiter will
come within 664 million kilometers (413 million miles) of our planet on the
night of 8th March.

The astronomer, Alan Duffy from Swinburne
University of Australia said “This shows that the Jupiter is both at its
nearest point to the Earth as well as fully illuminated by the Sun from our
point of view. At that time, we will have the best view of this giant ball of
gas.”

To visualize this event, all you need is the
binoculars. If you stand with your back to where the Sun sets, Jupiter will be
the brightest object in the sky.

Duffy said "It will be the brightest object
in the sky after Venus sets along with the Sun, so Jupiter would be easy to
spot."

You'll also be able to see its cloud streams that
emerges as varying light and dark bands running along the whole planet. Geoff
Gaherty says "The dark bands are called 'belts' and the light bands are
called 'zones'. Normally at least two belts are visible, but on nights with
even weather, eight or more belts may be visible."

This
post was written by Umer Abrar. To contact the author of this post, write to mirzavadoodulbaig@gmail.com
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Look up! Jupiter is about to put on its best show of the year
Reviewed by Umer Abrar
on
2/19/2016
Rating: 5